Robots can dance now. But don’t be fooled—they’re still just really expensive puppets.
Brad Porter dives into the illusion of progress in robotics in this Medium piece, unpacking the hype vs. the reality of what our metal friends can actually do.
The gist? Most robots aren’t making decisions. They’re either being driven remotely (teleoperation), copying human movements they memorized (imitation learning), or following scripts with a camera yelling “YOU’RE OFF TRACK!”
What looks like autonomy is often just very clever choreography. Think Broadway, not brains.
But here’s the kicker—and Porter’s big bet: the future isn’t more of these stochastic puppets. It’s robots that learn to play like humans. Not just around us, but with us. Collaborative, adaptive, and genuinely interactive. Think less “button-pressing marionette” and more “teammate with torque sensors.”
AI might be coming for our jobs, but for now, your local barista bot is just playing back yesterday’s latte dance—until it learns to riff off your espresso mood in real time.